Carter Crockett of Millville is a 17-year-old with autism and has collected a large amount of Play Doh that he will donate to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
Adam Monacelli, Vineland Daily Journal

MILLVILLE - Chants of "We'll be back" broke out Monday from a capacity-plus crowd gathered at the Millville Public Schools Board of Education meeting.

A sea of folks wearing red flooded the North 3rd Street facility as a show of support for the district's paraprofessionals as speculation grows about the future of that position.

While the school board has not yet proposed formal action, it is at least grappling with the idea of replacing retiring aides through outsourcing with the company Insight — a move that would save the district money, particularly with health benefit costs.

The board room was standing room only with an overflow of people forced into the Culver Center's hallways when the meeting's 7 p.m. start time rolled around.

Those in attendance were soon in for some bad news.

School board president Kim Carty opened the meeting with a brief remark acknowledging the crowd before solicitor Arnold Robinson delivered word that the public portion of the meeting was canceled for safety reasons after consulting with Millville fire officials.

Ciccio said the MEA organized a community meeting July 15 to discuss the outsourcing issue and that three school board members were in attendance.

"I told them, 'Be prepared, we'll be there at the board meeting,'" Ciccio said. "They knew we were coming and had the opportunity to change the venue. But we'll be back again, and next time with even more people."

Both Carty and interim superintendent Shelly Schneider told The Daily Journal Monday night that the public turnout exceeded their expectations.

District officials are working to reschedule the meeting to accommodate more people. That will likely happen July 29 at Lakeside Middle School, though that is not official yet, according to Schneider.

Carty, meanwhile, tried to ease some of the uncertainty with her message to the audience Monday.

"The board has heard you, the administration has heard you regarding the concerns about the hiring practices of the paraprofessionals," Carty said. "So in order to insure that all of the concerns we've heard are addressed, I'm asking Dr. Schneider to establish a committee consisting of representatives from all parties involved to evaluate the options in order to help us make the best decision in the interest of our kids, but also recognizing our financial limitations."

While the district works to analyze the financial ramifications of outsourcing aide positions, Schneider — who began her interim role July 1 — said health benefits alone can cost upwards of $35,000 for one employee.

Schneider and Carty both pointed to declining enrollment and flat state aid funding as challenges for the district as it weighs its options.

"We're still gathering the facts, but you have no choice but to look into different things," Schneider said. "In our preliminary discussions I think it's important to note we're not firing anyone. I think that's a misconception out there. We'd just be replacing aides as they retire."

According to the MEA, the district employs around 136 paraprofessionals, most working in special needs.

The union is not on board with having outsourced employees work with that demographic of student in particular.

"There's a lot of concerns about the companies that are for-profit," said Ciccio, the union rep who also is a special education teacher at Lakeside. "We don't know these people that are being hired. We have no say in who is hired, in that, as far as I know, the board is not approving them. So that is our main concern. We want to know who is coming into our buildings."

Eileen Roche was one of the many district paraprofessionals on hand for Monday's meeting.

Roche has served in that role for more than 25 years in Millville and said being a homegrown paraprofessional rather than molded by an independent company is invaluable.

"With our area, the socioeconomic level being so low, our students come in many times already handicapped," Roche said. "The staff needs extra training to be qualified to work with these kids, and as a teacher and as a parent, it takes us a long time to build that trust with each other, and that's important, really important."

Kathy Cossaboon said she can vouch for Roche's viewpoint.

Cossaboon is mother to an autistic son, Tristan, who graduated from Millville in 2017. She, too, was at Monday's meeting in opposition of outsourcing.

"He would not be where he is if he didn't have nine years of one-on-one with aides that showed up, that were there every day, and that knew him as well as I knew him, his quirks, what set him off," Cossaboon said.

While the crowd was dominated by those against outsourcing, not all in attendance shared that stance.

Leslie Morello is a district employee with a special-needs son going into second grade in Millville.

She, as a parent, downplayed the notion that Insight employees aren't fit to work in the district.

"My big problem is that a lot of this is just being driven by the union itself," Morello said. "It's mob mentality because of the union. The union is going to lose bargaining power eventually, and it's also going to lose dues. So a lot of this has been driven by the union requesting these meetings, requesting for all the employees to come out, and so my problem is not that people are against it, my problem is people are against it without actually having informed themselves."

Carty and Schneider hope the committee being formed — hopefully by week's end — will lead to a positive outcome in this saga.

Ciccio said her side of the table is anxious to see where those talks lead as well.

"The point of this committee is to sit at the table as partners and look at everything in an objective way so we have the facts and can make the best decision possible," Carty said. "At the end of the day it's the kids we're most concerned about and doing what's best for them."